Latest news: November 21, 2011

11.21.2011 | In Latest News, Uncategorized

Rep. Steve Scalise’s bill to give BP fines to Gulf states picks up steam

By Times-Picayune Staff (New Orleans, La.). November 19, 2011.

“Supporters of legislation to give the five Gulf states 80 percent of any Clean Water Act fines paid as a result of last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster got another co-sponsor last week: Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. That brings the number of co-sponsors to 27…”

Helping us prevent flooding: An editorial

By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La). November 18, 2011.

“For almost five years, Louisiana officials have argued that the federal government used an inaccurate calculation in determining how much hazard mitigation money the state should have received after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Now the Obama administration has agreed to use a calculation that better reflects actual damage from the 2005 storms and levee breaches…”

Morganza study is on time for Dec. 2012 completion

By Nikki Buskey, Daily Comet (Lafourche Parish, La.). November 21, 2011.

“A study that’s altering and updating Terrebonne’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers levee project, making barriers stronger, higher and longer and calculating a new project cost, will be finished on time next year, corps officials say…”

DU projects have impact on region

By Don Shoopman, The Daily Iberian (New Iberia, La.). November 20, 2011.

“Starting with a breakthrough project at Marsh Island in Iberia Parish, Ducks Unlimited has poured more than $50 million into habitat improvement and preservation with its waterfowl projects in the Sportsman’s Paradise…”

Numbers show spill’s effect on employment rates

By Cara Bayles, Houma Courier (Terrebonne Parish, La.). November 20, 2011.

“New wage and employment reports from the Louisiana Workforce Commission suggest that the employment rate among oil workers in the bayou region was already steadily falling prior to the moratorium on offshore drilling. Numbers from the commission also show that while employment rates have fallen in the bayou region, the average weekly wage is steadily increasing…”

Bad news from Congress mars opening of duck-hunting season

By Bob Marshall, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). November 20, 2011.

“With plenty of birds, good weather and easy bag limits, the first week of the 2011 duck season should have gone into the books as one to cheer the soul of waterfowlers everywhere…”